ESPN Analyst Suspended for Separatist Remarks About RGIII

RUSH: You don’t know what that’s about? Oh, you haven’t heard about the latest racist incident on ESPN? Yeah, this black reporter for ESPN was on some typically pointless, designed for controversy only ESPN show. His name is Rob Parker, used to be in Detroit. He said that RGIII is not down for the struggle, is not an authentic black. He has a white fiancee, might be a Republican. Can’t be an authentic black, not down for the cause, and he’s a cornball brother. He’s not really a black guy. He’s not one of us. And, of course, this is being debated as though there is some possibility that Parker… A lot of people are outraged by it, naturally, but depending who you are and what your skin color, you can say anything and have it treated as an intellectual addition to the public domain and have it discussed.

Now, this is not like going after Clarence Thomas, who’s an acknowledged conservative, or not like going after Walter Williams or Shelby Steele. RGIII is the most popular black guy in DC. He is single-handedly saving the Washington Redskins. There’s still playoff potential there with the Redskins. Going after this guy as a conservative, as a Republican, is not an automatic score for you. But, once again, who is it in our culture that are the real racists? And who is it that’s determining who’s authentically this and who’s not authentically that?

This Rob Parker guy (paraphrasing), “Yeah, well, he’s black. He kind of does his thing, but he’s not really down with the cause, he’s not one of us. He’s kind of black. But he’s not really the guy you’d really want to hang out with ’cause he’s off to do something else.” Essentially he’s too white. He’s not authentically-black, Snerdley. This is the kind of stuff, by the way, that they were talking about, not as pointedly, about Obama during the 2007, 2008 campaign. That’s what the LA Times column, the “Magic Negro,” was all about. I can’t believe you hadn’t heard about that. ESPN’s response is they are looking at it. ESPN is looking at it, determining, you know, what they might want to do. Let’s grab the sound bite. Here’s Rob Parker. It’s on the program called First Take, and this is the show that he appears on with Skip Bayless. Stephen A. Smith is on this show. And the cohost, Cari Champion, says, “What does this say about RGIII?”

PARKER: My question, which is just a straight honest question, is he a brother or is he a cornball brother? He’s black, he does his thing, but he’s not really down with the cause. He’s not one of us. He’s kind of black, but he’s not really like the guy you really want to hang out with ’cause he’s off to something. We all know he has a white fiancee and there’s all this talk about he’s Republican, which, there’s no information at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue, because we did find out with Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods was like, I don’t want to — I got black skin but don’t call me black. So people got a little… wondered about Tiger Woods early on about him.

RUSH: This guy’s a separatist. This guy doesn’t want any kind of integration. This guy’s a full-fledged separatist. They’re investigating to see if he’s Republican. And, if it can be proven that he’s Republican, then ESPN will probably say no foul. If they can remove that RGIII is a Republican then there will be no problem and Parker will get even more airtime. They’re investigating whether he’s a Republican. That’s gonna be the determining factor.

Now, RGIII has said (paraphrased), “Look, I don’t want to be defined by my race.” That’s a big problem. He has said publicly he doesn’t want to be defined by race. He wants to be defined by the kind of person he is. Like Martin Luther King said. The content of his character, the degree to which he performs well, his character in public. That’s how he wants to be known and that’s how he wants to live his life. He doesn’t want to live his life as a skin color.

So he’s not down for the struggle. He not down for the cause. (interruption) “It used to be the cause,” is exactly right. It used to be the cause. The color of your skin was supposed to not matter. We want a colorblind society. But who is it…? Who is it that is hell-bent on making the color of your skin matter? It’s militant blacks, and they’re all Democrats. They’re all liberals. White liberals do the same thing.

Parker continued. After Parker said this, Skip Bayless — who’s the token white on the show, the token flamethrower… This is a program that ESPN said, “We want controversy and we don’t care whether it’s true what you say. We don’t care how outrageous it is. Just get us eyeballs. Just get us some attention.” So after what you just heard, Bayless said to Parker, “What do RGIII’s braids mean to you?” Now, you tell me: What is the point of that question? Skip Bayless (paraphrased), “What do you mean he’s not a brother? Look at the braids, right? He looks like a brother.” That’s what Bayless is saying. “He looks like a brother, Parker. He’s got the braids. What did the braids say to you?”

PARKER: To me, that’s very urban and makes you feel like, I think he would have a clean cut, if he was more straitlaced or not. Wearing braids is… You’re a brother if you got braids on.

RUSH: Yeah, so the braids confuse it because the braids mean he could be a brother. But he’s also maybe a Republican, which wipes out the braids. So they’ve gotta investigate whether RGIII is a Republican. And then, if he’s a conservative, probably… This is why, folks, so many of us think we’ve gone over the cliff; the tipping point long ago reached. I mean, we’re supposed to “reach out” to this? (interruption) Well, this is Walt Disney, ESPN. Walt Disney owns ESPN. We’re supposed to reach out to this, find common ground with this? This is what we’re supposed to understand in order to peacefully co-exist? Not peacefully. Just co-exist period! So Stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. Smith has been hearing, listening to all this, and then he said…

SMITH: Well, first of all, let me say this: I’m uncomfortable with where we just went. RGIII, the ethnicity, the color of his fiancee is none of our business. It’s irrelevant. He can live his life any way he chooses. The braids that he has in his hair, that’s his business. That’s his life. He can live the life. I don’t judge someone’s blackness based on those kinds of things. I just don’t do that.

RUSH: But what, then, does he judge somebody’s blackness on? Well, Stephen A. Smith has on previous occasions let it be known that he does lean right now and then. And he’s paid the price for that, by the way. They keep shuffling him around.

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RUSH: I’m just told that ESPN suspended Rob Parker. I don’t know for how long. It doesn’t say. I just got the story.

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RUSH: Jack in Denver, it’s Open Line Friday. We always want to grab a call in the first hour if we can to make it look good here. Welcome to the program, sir.

CALLER: Thanks, Rush. Mile-High dittos.

RUSH: Thank you. I appreciate your call.

CALLER: Rush, I think it was last week you were talking about how women scrutinize and leer at other women harder than men. I found that to be true. I agree. And after listening this morning —

RUSH: Well, it’s not just that. It’s in a disapproving way.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: I mean, women scrutinize… While we’re ogling women, we don’t see the women shooting daggers at ’em.

CALLER: Rush, how —

RUSH: “How dare she swear that skirt? Who does she think she is?”

CALLER: About RGIII, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a segment of the black population that does the same thing to other blacks.

RUSH: Meaning scrutinize other blacks? Of course they do. That’s what this illustrates. “RGIII, he’s not down for the cause. The braids don’t get him over the hump. He’s not down for the struggle. White fiancee? Traitor! Republican? Traitor!” He’s worthy of their disdain, and he’s one of them, the way they look at it. I don’t know how you reach out to people like that. “We’re supposed to reach out.”

This Rob Parker is just a buffoon.

It makes sense he’s at ESPN.

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RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to the racial controversy at ESPN, which really has become a racist place, you go back to my short five-week stint there, and I ended up resigning because I didn’t want all the controversy that ensued. I mean, I really liked that pregame show. I mistakenly liked the people on it. It was misplaced affection. We were discussing Donovan McNabb’s slump. I essentially said I don’t think it’s a slump. I don’t think he’s as good as everybody seems to think. I think there’s a lot of media people, liberals, who have a desire that black quarterbacks do well ’cause they feel sorry for ’em. And I said it’s the media that has perpetuated the myth that McNabb’s a better quarterback than he is. I think the defense carried the day.

Well, two days later the Philadelphia print media blew up, and that was that. It wasn’t a racist comment at all. It was a comment on media behavior. But ESPN wanted no part of it. Now they got this guy Rob Parker who, by the way, has a track record. He doesn’t arrive at ESPN as clean and pure as the wind-driven snow. He’s from Detroit. He’s got a track record as being sort of outside the bounds of media propriety, if there is such a thing.

You know the story by now. Robert Griffin III, black quarterback of the Redskins, is not authentically black, ’cause he’s got a white fiancee, might be a Republican, and he’s a cornball brother. He’s not down for the cause. He’s not a black guy that the other black guys would want to hang around with, and so he’s been suspended indefinitely by ESPN.

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RUSH: Mr. Snerdley, a question. Honestly now, I’m still trying to figure out what it is that Rob Parker doesn’t like about RGIII. What I’ve done here is, I’ve constructed a brief profile of RGIII, and I want to run through this just small, brief little profile and ask you: Could this be why? Robert Griffin III has a supportive father and mother. They’re married to each other, and they raised him.

They are both former military, his parents. He is very, very well-spoken. He’s extremely articulate. Well, like Obama is. He’s Christian. He is disciplined. Do you think these could be contributing factors to why militant blacks would look at RGIII and say, “He’s not one of us”? Well-spoken, two parents raised him, still married, former military. “Not good. Not good. Not realistic. That’s not good. Republicans grow up like that. You know, skunks like Romney grew up like that.”